In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan embarked on a daring voyage to circumnavigate the globe. His journey was driven by an insatiable curiosity to explore uncharted waters. This expedition ultimately expanded the boundaries of human knowledge and paved the way for future explorers. Magellan was willing to go to the ends of the earth to satisfy his curiosity. Curiosity is a natural characteristic of all people; one which educators can foster in the classroom.
We should celebrate curiosity because it has several outstanding benefits. First, it leads to learning about ourselves and understanding ourselves better. Successful therapy patients, for example, must be curious, or want to know more, about themselves. Second, curiosity enables us to become smarter about the world in which we live. Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, and Jonas Salk all had at least one thing in common – they were curious about the world. They wanted to know how it worked. Third, curiosity enables us to develop stronger, more meaningful relationships with other people. It is the foundation of empathy, giving people the desire to understand how others think and feel and why they think and feel in these ways.
Many young children enter school with an innate sense of curiosity. They want to know everything in the world. Interestingly, many students lose their curiosity as they progress through school. They no longer want to know or at least they behave as if they are not interested in school knowledge. Too much of the time they feel forced to know and they do not like it. As educators, we have an incredible opportunity to encourage curiosity and create communities where curiosity is celebrated. A great way to do this is by encouraging students to wonder and ask powerful, open-ended questions.
Few teachers would explicitly discount the importance of curiosity and asking questions in the learning process. However, in practice, many do not encourage these activities. In her seminal article, “Defensive Teaching and Classroom Control,” Linda McNeil explains that some teachers reach tacit agreement with their students that academic requirements will remain relatively easy and in turn, students will behave. In an ethnographic study of social studies classrooms in four Wisconsin schools, McNeil writes, “(Teachers) patterns of knowledge control were…rooted in their desire for classroom control.” She reports that in many classroom lectures, “The teacher makes a few remarks, the students groan, the activity proceeds and is briefly concluded, the teacher asks if there are any questions, and there are none.” With all of the incredible complexities associated with teaching in general and classroom management in particular, some teachers fear opening up their classrooms to curiosity and questions.
High-quality instructional resources, both teacher-facing and student-facing, can assist teachers in facilitating classrooms that encourage curiosity and question-asking. Sometimes, creatively-developed prompts with answer rubrics are enough to challenge students to ask questions and think with curiosity while maintaining effective classroom management. At times these discussions might take place in guided group activity, in which work would be recorded back to the whole classroom. The instructional resources can include a guide for the group. Students could evaluate one another’s work using the provided rubric.
Personally, I like simulations that challenge students to imagine themselves in different places and times. For example, imagine that a class is reading a novel. The teacher challenges students to imagine that they are a character in the novel. How would they choose to respond to the climax? (Tell them their response must be different from the character’s actual response.) Why would they respond this way? How would their response change the conclusion of the book?
Similar questions could be used for historical events. How would later events have been different if earlier events had been different? For example, how would history have been different if Samuel Adams and the patriots had not organized the Boston Tea Party? Students can also be prompted with the following question: What questions would you ask about this event that cannot be fully answered with research? Why? These are just a few examples. Professional learning communities that set an objective of bringing curiosity and questioning to classrooms can develop so many more. Of course, instructional resources should provide more nuanced support.
To sum it up, Magellan’s voyage serves as a reminder of the power of inquiry to propel us beyond the known. Just as Magellan challenged the boundaries of his world, educators must empower students to question, explore, and discover their own intellectual horizons. While the fear of losing control in the classroom is understandable, it should not overshadow the immense potential that lies in nurturing students’ innate curiosity. By creating a learning environment where curiosity and questions are celebrated, supported by high-quality instructional resources, teachers can ignite a passion for knowledge that will extend far beyond the confines of the classroom. Curiosity is about cultivating a lifelong love of learning, a thirst for understanding that will equip students to navigate the complexities of an ever-changing world.
McNeil, L. M. (1983). Defensive teaching and classroom control. In M. W. Apple & L. Weis (Eds.), Ideology and practice in schooling (pp. 114–142). Temple University Press.
Andrew Pass
Founder and Visionary
